9819. 'And they shall make Aaron's garments' means through whom the spiritual kingdom exists. This is clear from the meaning of 'Aaron's garments' as a representative sign of the Lord's spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to His celestial kingdom, dealt with above in 9814. The reason why the wise at heart, filled with the spirit of wisdom, were to make those garments is that by these people those in the celestial kingdom are meant, and the spiritual kingdom is what springs from and so what covers that celestial kingdom like a garment next to the body, as also becomes clear from the things that have been stated in 9818.
Joel 1
1
The Word of Yahweh that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
2
Hear this, you elders, And listen, all you inhabitants of the land. Has this ever happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
3
Tell your children about it, and have your children Tell their children, and their children, another generation.
4
What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten.
5
Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
6
For a nation has come up on my land, strong, and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a lioness.
7
He has laid my vine waste, and stripped my fig tree. He has stripped its bark, and thrown it away. Its branches are made white.
8
Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!
9
The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from Yahweh's house. The priests, Yahweh's ministers, mourn.
10
The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes.
11
Be confounded, you farmers! Wail, you vineyard keepers; for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished.
12
The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all of the trees of the field are withered; for joy has withered away from the sons of men.
13
Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God's house.
14
Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of Yahweh, your God, and cry to Yahweh.
15
Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is at hand, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
16
Isn't the food cut off before our eyes; joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17
The seeds rot under their clods. The granaries are laid desolate. The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.
18
How the animals groan! The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
19
Yahweh, I cry to you, For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20
Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks have dried up, And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
Arcana Coelestia # 195
195. The most ancient people did not compare all things in man to beasts and birds but actually called them such. This was their manner of speaking, which also remained throughout in the Ancient Church after the Flood; and a similar manner of speaking was preserved among the Prophets. Man's sensory powers they called serpents, for just as serpents are next to the ground so do the sensory powers come next to the body. Consequently reasonings based on sensory evidence concerning mysteries of faith they called serpent-poisons, and those who reasoned in that way they called serpents. And it is their basing reasonings so much on sensory evidence - that is, on visual, as is the evidence of earthly, bodily, worldly, and natural objects - that is the reason for the statement 'the serpent was subtle, more than every wild animal of the field'.
[2] A similar usage occurs in David,
They make their tongue sharp, like a serpent. Under their lips is the poison of an asp. Psalms 140:3-5.
This refers to people who mislead a person by means of reasonings. In the same author,
They go astray even from the womb, in uttering what is untrue; their poison is like serpent's poison; they are like the poisonous deaf-adder which stops up its ear to the sound of those whispering [to it], of the wise one who belongs to the fraternity [of charmers]. Psalms 58:3-5.
Reasonings whose nature is such that those who resort to them do not even hear that which is wise, that is, do not hear 'the sound of the wise one', are here called 'serpent's poison'. This was the origin of the popular saying with the ancients about 'the serpent stopping its ear'. In Amos,
As if someone went into the house and leaned with his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light, and thick darkness, and no brightness in it? Amos 5:19-20.
'His hand against the wall' stands for power that is one's own and trust in sensory evidence, which results in the benightedness described here.
[3] In Jeremiah,
The sound of Egypt will go forth like a serpent, for [her enemies] will go forth in force, and they will come to her with axes, like woodcutters. Let them cut down her forest, says Jehovah, for it will not be explored; they are more numerous than locusts, they are without number. The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame; she will be given into the hand of a people from the north. Jeremiah 46:20, 22-24.
'Egypt' stands for reasoning about Divine matters that is based on sensory evidence and factual knowledge. Reasonings are called 'the sound of a serpent', and the benightedness that results is meant by 'a people from the north'. In Job,
He will suck the poison of asps, the tongue of a viper will kill him; he will not see the brooks, the streams flowing with honey and butter. Job 20:16-17.
'Streams of honey and butter' are spiritual and celestial things, which reasoners will not see. Reasonings are called 'the poison of asps and 'the tongue of a viper'. For more concerning the serpent, see at verses 14-15, below.
